Men run show but women wait in wings

Who runs the show in Waterford city? Men, it would appear, but appearances can be deceptive.

The constituency hasn't had a woman TD since 1952 nor a city councillor since 1991; the Rotary Club has no women members; Waterford Airport has a 15-man board . . . you could go on.

It all prompted a Sunday newspaper to ask recently when Waterford women would fight back against male-dominated rule.

So what are the business, professional and political-minded women of Waterford doing to rid the city of its conservative traditions? Everything but worrying about them, it would appear.

"When I'm in business the fact that I'm female is totally irrelevant to me and I'd like to think it is to my clients as well and the people I do business with," says Julie Colclough, managing director of Euro Base, the transport and logistics management firm she founded in 1990.

Echoing the views of other Waterford businesswomen who are too busy working to bother about Rotary Club invitations, Ms Colclough gets bored being asked about the obstacles she's supposed to encounter operating in a business dominated by men.

"I'd be appalled if people were conscious of my gender because I think that leads to an element of tokenism," she adds. "Really, the whole gender thing is not something that I think about."

Women standing for election to the city council in June, however, say the lack of female representation on the city authority is an issue for them. But they don't want voter support because they're women.

"Men don't go out and think they should get votes just because they're men and I certainly wouldn't be going for a `woman's vote'," says Mary Roche, who runs her own public relations company, Flagship Communications, and is standing for Fianna Fail in the June poll.

"Whether I'm a woman or a man is not an issue with me; you just do what you want to do and you work to get where you want to be."

Labour candidate Christine O'Dowd-Smyth, a lecturer in French at Waterford Institute of Technology, will not be "playing too much on the feminist ticket".

But she sees the lack of women on the city council as an advantage in her fight for election. "When I heard there were no women I said `well, fine, there's this woman. Why can't I get in and try to make a mark for the women in Waterford?'

"I think it's an absolute shame there are no women at the moment, but since I was nominated I've seen there are several other women going forward from other parties. After June there will probably be two or three women on the council and I think that's great."

The quality of decisions taken by the corporation can only improve if some of its 15 male members are forced to make way for women, the candidates insist.

Street lighting would be one example, says Ms Roche; while a man might say let's have nice or appropriate street lighting, a woman would be more likely to say let's have enough light.

Ms O'Dowd-Smyth says women have a particular angle on issues such as childcare. "They'll be more people-oriented, I think, as well. I hesitate to say that women are more caring but they do tend to be, perhaps, better listeners."

"I think it's better to have a mixture anyway. I don't like to see too much of an imbalance; too many men is not a good thing and neither is having too many women. It's important that we work together."

The Mayor of Waterford, Fianna Fail's Cllr Brian Swift, accepts there is a "gender imbalance" on the city council which he expects will be corrected in forthcoming elections.

With two months remaining before nominations close, it is not yet known how many women will be battling for seats. But other strong candidates are likely to include former Democratic Left activist Sue Larkin, businesswoman Mary Darlington, seeking a Fine Gael nomination, and the Workers' Party's Olga Redmond.

Mr Swift also believes it is the candidate's calibre, and not their sex, that should count with voters. "I would like to see a good strong council with 15 good members and if a few of those are women, all the better."

Of course, the city council is not the only body in Waterford with a "gender imbalance". Waterford Airport, which has 15 men but no women on its board, denies any discrimination.

"It has absolutely no significance," says the airport's manager, Mr Peter Tawse, before adding that any woman in the region with "something to offer" would be accepted on to the board.

Does that imply there isn't a single woman in Waterford with "something to offer" the board? "Of course not. Perhaps it just means those who have are too busy or haven't put themselves forward. There's no other agenda there."

Mr Gerard Hurley of the Waterford Rotary Club says the question of women becoming members has just "not been an issue" in his two years as a committee member. The members' wives, who form the club's "inner wheel", support activities such as the fundraising drive for the local hospice before Christmas.

Some women might want more than a supporting role in the club's activities but most, it seems, couldn't care less whether the Rotary Club has them or not.

Monica Leech, chief executive of Waterford Tourism and vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce, has "no burning desire" to join, and if the club prefers not to have women, well, "let it off", she says. Ms Mary Dorgan, the Chamber's first woman president in 1996-97, agrees that Rotary Club membership is not an issue for women.

Ms Dorgan, who moves this week from her post as FAS regional director to join Waterford Crystal, says she has never encountered discrimination in her business career because of her sex. "I think you'll find there are as many women in business and in the professions in this city as there are anywhere else," she says.

"What I would love to see is a woman at the head of one of the major industries, but that applies to Ireland in general and not just to Waterford."

Ms Dorgan also believes that having no women members on the city council is bad for the city's image and the profile of women within it. "If you don't have any women politicians than it means you won't get the kind of media coverage of women that you'd expect."

There are other concerns, too. Katharine Bulbulia, the last woman to sit on the city council and now programme manager for the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, says women have a different perspective on many issues.

"It's extremely odd that a city the size of Waterford should have no women on its council. Waterford is the only city without a tradition of a woman mayor. That strikes me as being out of step and it has to change," she says.

Elizabeth O'Mahony, the Waterford-based national president of Network Ireland, the Organisation for Women in Business, welcomes women putting themselves forward for the June elections.

"I think it's great because it will bring a feminine intelligence to our working and living. We do look at things differently at times. You'll find that women will look for different things and will maybe empathise with women's problems a lot more." Two prospective councillors, Ms Roche and Ms Darlington, are also involved in Network.

But Ms O'Mahony agrees people should not vote for candidates simply because they're women. "You have to have the best person for the job, that's only fair."